What are the characteristics of American democracy and why are they important?
Democracy literally means government by the people, directly. This of course simply does not work for populations of any size. The US is a republic which means that the people directly elect their government representatives although some argument can and has been made that the electoral college precludes the direct election of the president. Citizens do however directly elect senators and representatives. It is also important the the length of the terms for elected officials are limited, two years for members of the House of Representatives, four years for the President and Vice-President, and six years for senators. This provides the citizenry with the ability to replace their elected representatives if they are unhappy with them.
